In a Field of Morning Glories
by Uni-Mara
Summary: Challanges from the naruto100 commununity on LiveJournal. Usually involving Kisame and Itachi, but don't expect only that. KisaIta warning, just for those who hate that. :p
1. Video Games

Title: Reset Button  
Challenge: Video games  
Characters: Itachi  
Word Count: 100

It's easy not to care when you don't fear death. A lot of people think it's a hard thing to do. It's not. Itachi can tell himself that it's just like the video games he played as a child. He'll get hurt, but he'll be okay in the end.

You can't really get hurt. Because that's the way it always works out. At least that's how it worked out in all the video games the Uchiha played. He never really had to be afraid of dying.

You don't have to fear death when you tell yourself there's a reset button.


	2. Food

Title: Aftertaste  
Characters: Kisame and Itachi  
Challenge: Food  
Word Count: 100  
Bonus: Chocolate

Kisame didn't like sweets. They left a bitter aftertaste on the back of his tongue that lasted longer than the initial sweetness. It just didn't seem worth it. Or it might have had something to do with the fact he had never liked sweets, even as a child.

So one would have expected that when Itachi offered a bite of his chocolate bar Kisame would pass it up. The Uchiha wouldn't have offered any if it had been dango. He couldn't find any in the roadside shop they had stopped in, however.

The aftertaste didn't seem as bad as before.


	3. My Not So Happy Ending

Title: False Grave  
Word Count: 666  
Rating: PG  
Challenge: My Not So Happy Ending  
Characters: Itachi and Kisame  
Bonuses: ANBU mentioned. Maybe an unusual unhappy ending?  
Side notes: I need to learn to use other characters.

He was supposed to bring back the corpse to the organization. Although he was sure that Itachi-san was the one they had expected to be lugging back dead weight. Shinobi bodies contained a multitude of secrets and hidden jutsus, and Itachi-san's body would have unlocked the secrets of the Sharingan. But Kisame couldn't stand the thought of his partner on a metal slab, his organs piled into different bins for weighing and inspection (although Itachi-san's organs had been coming out of him perfectly well on their own, no help was needed). His skin torn to shreds looking for a certain seal under the flesh but above the muscle (if one existed).

But it was the thought of Itachi-san's eyes lying on a plate, being inspected, mulled over, dissected, that made Kisame start up the bonfire and burn his partner. He hadn't been worried about the ANBU who had done this to them. They had met an end as well, although it was doubtful they were going to have a burial like Itachi-san.

There were two piles of ashes. One was swept neatly into what had once been Itachi-san's coat, held together with his marred hitai-ate. The second was near the stream, in the clearing. If the bonfire spread Kisame would have been able to put it out that way. A bonfire is less noticeable than a wildfire.

Sweat stuck all over his body and blood ran down to his foot. Idly Kisame noted that it was hard to dig a grave with only one arm. Only idly because he was lightheaded from the loss of blood. Didn't matter. The grave was deep enough. With a dull thud the shark like man was on his knees, placing the Atkatsuki wrapped ashes in the grave, and recovering the earth he had dug up.

Would he ever get up again? Kisame didn't think so. It was good to feel the ground under more of him than his feet. He hauled his body up, eventually. Since when was it this heavy? Should loosing a limb make it lighter?

Water in the stream gurgled as he staggered towards it. His vision was blurring now. He couldn't see much ahead of him. When Itachi-san was starting to go blind, was it like this? Was Kisame going blind too? No... These were just stupid thoughts from the loss of blood. Only when he could feel water over his bare toes and the muck from the stream bed oozing up from the bottom of his zori did Kisame know he had reached the water. He scrapped out his foot on the bank, hitting the second pile of ash and sending it scattering into the stream. He scraped his foot a few more times as well, lest not to miss anything.

The palm of his hand--his only hand--rubbed over his eyes. For a second he could see clearly, the grey ashes swirling away in the current, the blood from his wound mixing in with them. Sort of a testament to Itachi-san. That was good, seeing as how Kisame was sure the Uchiha never wanted to be washed downstream as nothing but wood cinders lie in a make-shift grave for him. But Itachi-san would have understood. He would have known that Kisame's motives were to protect his lineage and his essence. It was rare, and it was difficult, but a shinobi could have resurrected him to be their slave. Even Orochimaru. So Itachi-san would have understood.

The colors of the world blurred again, the red of Itachi's last tribute taking over the water. Dully, Kisame wondered why his face was wet, and why there was water in his mouth and nose. Wondered why the red was now the sky and taking over. Wondered why he could taste the old, recycled flavor of himself.

Was this what the world Itachi-san put himself into with those cruel and somehow eerily beautiful eyes of his? Nothing but red... Nothing...

And the stream took both the men away.


	4. Underneath the Underneath

Title: Don't Laugh

Characters: Kisame and Itachi (again)

Challenge: Underneath the Underneath

Word Count: 100

Bonus: UST, mask(ing emotions)

Note: I will do a jig for the person who correctly says what Itachi was doing first. :p

Itachi was very good at masking his emotions. Kisame, however? Not so good at it. So while in the situation Itachi could act as if it never happened, while Kisame was biting down harshly on his tongue to keep from laughing.

He really shouldn't be so amused. Itachi, while acting in a cold unfeeling manner most of the time that took most shinobi ages to perfect, was still young. And hadn't Kisame done such a thing while young? Or more honestly, didn't he do it now?

Yes, but seeing Itachi in that situation was just... funny.

"Heh..."

"Shut up, Kisame."


	5. The Theater

Title: At The Movies  
Characters: Two Akatsuki members  
Challenge: The Theater  
Word Count: 100  
Bonus: Crack pairing

It's already dark in the movie theater, so you know no one can see either of you. The movie itself is more boring than anything. You actually only asked him to it to spend a little time together. But you still feel him press against your shoulder, probably making the armrest dig into his side.

He doesn't like people or crowds, that's his problem. Right now he probably wants to sink into the ground and just pull out of it somewhere far away from here.

"Zetsu, calm down, everything's fine... un."

He gives you a weak smile behind his henge.


	6. Modern Times

Title: Weirdest Place Ever  
Characters: Main - Sasuke and Itachi. Mentioned (vaguely) - Kisame, Deirada, Zetsu, and the Leader.   
Challenge: Modern Times  
Word Count: 444  
Bonus: Unlikely jobs

Sasuke really hates it when his brother picks him up from school. Not really because he has anything against Itachi, but because the place he works at is just _really weird_. First off, Itachi doesn't need to work. The inheritance that they got from their parents deaths could pay off well into both of their old age. But he does anyway, and Sasuke supposes the three things he'll never understand in this world are girls, his brother, and why people say he'll collapse a lung when he inhales helium from a balloon.

He can tell when they're going to the bar and when they're not. They actually travel the same route, so it's not the scenery Sasuke watches. It's Itachi's eyes. When they go home, Itachi keeps in his normal contact lenses. When they go to the bar, Itachi will pull over and replace them with a pair of blood red ones. They're creepy, but Sasuke has to admit they're a little cool, too.

Sasuke's pretty sure that a standard for working at a weird place like Akatsuki is to be a complete and utter weirdo as well.

The first time Itachi brought his little brother there Sasuke literally clung onto Itachi all through his shift. For the love of all things holy, there was a man there _who looked like he had a venus fly trap around his head_. And the most normal person there, besides his brother, had tattoos on the palms of his hands that looked like _mouths_.

Eventually Sasuke got up the courage to let go of his brother and go to the bartender to ask for something. Itachi had said Kisame would have given it to him if he asked, but just to remember to say he wanted it virgin and that he was Itachi's brother. He hadn't even made it within a yard of the bar before he turned around, found his brother, and looped his fingers back into Itachi's belt-loop the way he had for the all the other times he had been there. Itachi had just rolled his eyes at Sasuke when he started rambling about how Kisame was _blue_ and how that was _not normal_.

Sasuke's well aware that he's never seen the owner of Akatsuki. He's also aware that nobody who works there actually uses his _name_. He supposes that's more of a blessing, considering the people the man had hired.

So Sasuke either sits in one of the dark corners of the bar or follows Itachi while he waits tables because he's not allowed to stay in the car and mumbles to himself about how he'll never work at a place like Akatsuki.


	7. Games

Title: Playtime

Characters: Itachi and Kisame

Challenge: Games

Word Count: 100

Bonus: Double meanings of the vaguely sexual sort. (Well, at the end.)

Note: XD I actually wanted to write this up for a while, this challenge just pushed me to do so.

Itachi was never allowed to play games. He was to be refined and honed into a perfect tool. A perfectly inhuman tool.

Eventually, he started making games up. He made games that looked like his training so no one would notice. They were not much fun. But he was playing, in his own mind at least.

Shortly, he found a new game. How many different shades of red could an Uchiha's blood run? That game was boring, however. So he stopped.

The games Kisame knows are more fun, Itachi thinks. At least more than his ever were. Much more fun.


	8. Betrayal

Title: Snake In The Grass  
Characters: Jiraiya and Orochimaru  
Challenge: Betrayal  
Word Count: 100  
Bonus: The Sannin  
Note: This isn't as good at I would like it to be. XP

He's lying in bed, alone, and all he can think about is that he shouldn't be. The only heat in his bed is from his own body and trapped by the covers. He should be used to this, used to the dark and the cold. He should just move on.

It shouldn't feel like Orochimaru personally came up to him and slit his belly and chest wide open, instead of all those other people. He tells himself this and tries to go to sleep. It wasn't just him Orochimaru betrayed. He betrayed others.

Jiraiya feels like he's lying to himself.


	9. Betrayal 2

Title: Traitor

Characters: Kimimaro

Challenge: Betrayal

Word Count: 100

Note: The first one annoyed me, so I made a new one. :p

The thought comes to him: Is it really betrayal if he doesn't want it to happen this way? If he truly wants to help his master, to give him everything he wants and more, would his body's failure still be seen as disloyalty?

He coughs, blood spurting out of his mouth and running down his chin. For a moment he thinks he will choke on it, but manages to spit it all out.

No, this is betrayal. He knows this. Even if Kimimaro does not want to, he is going against his promise to Orochimaru-sama.

To him, a traitor dies.


	10. Hollywood Style

Title: Dragged Under

Characters: Kisame and Itachi

Challenge: Hollywood Style

Word Count: 100

The first tug on his foot made him feel small and wholly unaccepted in the vast ocean. The second one, strong enough to pull him down for his open mouth to be filled with water, made him desperately crave the safety of land. The third tug brought him fully underwater, and he stared at the reflective surface in horror.

His eyes stung and broke his paralysis, his free foot smacked down. His head broke the surface as he was let go, and soon Kisame's did too. He glared. Nobody frightened him. Not ever.

"Itachi-san, I think you broke my nose!"


	11. Cheesy PickUp Lines

Title: In Need Of Practice

Challenge: Cheesy Pick-Up Lines

Words: 323

Characters: Orochimaru and Jiraiya

Notes: I felt parts of me die when I wrote the pick-up lines... Parts I needed...

"What's a sweet thing like you doing in a place like this?"

For a second, he had no idea what was going on and he looked around the field for someone else, anyone else. But he didn't see any thing and turned to see Jiraiya smiling stupidly at him.

"What are you doing?" Orochimaru shifted his bento box in his lap, feeling uncomfortable small as his teammate stood over him.

"You're the closest thing to a girl I can practice my lines on," said as if it were the most logical thing in the world. Orochimaru sent him a glare, an obvious sign that he didn't like the way the other disregarded his masculinity.

"Well, aside from Tsunade-chan, but she'd hit me if I did." Jiraiya sat down next to the snake-like boy without an invitation to. Making a point of ignoring him, Orochimaru returned to his food. For a while it was quiet, Jiraiya looked as if in deep thought. Maybe with that much concentration his next pick-up line would be better.

"Wanna come over to my place? I've got a shag rug."

Or not. Orochimaru just turned his head slowly, a look of utter revulsion and shock on his face. Jiraiya seemed happily deluded to that fact, however. Putting his chopsticks down, his hand was too shaky from the urge to punch Jiraiya or at least yell at him to use them properly anyway, he focused on his tongue to pick up his food. Maybe the concentration would help him block out the other boy.

"What else can your tongue do?"

Or just give him fodder for worse lines. Shoving his bento in Jiraiya's lap he got up. He had been disturbed enough by Jiraiya today, both mentally and by his presence. He was just going to walk away with dignity.

"Can I get some fries to go with that shake?"

Okay, fuck dignity, Orochimaru just broke out in a dead-run.


End file.
